


A Destiny In Respite

by linksheartydurian (infernalmajesty)



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Awkward Conversations, BotW 2, Character Death?, Death Mountain, Emotional, Emotional Roller Coaster, F/M, Fate & Destiny, Fluff, Gerudo Town, Grief, Hateno Village, Heterosexual relationships, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Kakariko Village, Link had a growth spurt during his 100 year nap, Lurelin, Master Sword, Memory Loss, Mourning, NSFW, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plot With Porn, Possible smut, Post-Breath of the Wild, Post-Calamity, Reunions, Rito Village, Romance, Smut, Sort Of, Zelda loves Link, Zelda will eventually have short hair, Zora's Domain, botw, could be a slow burn, eventually I’ll get there, happiness, honestly I don’t entirely know where this is going, possible F/F, possible nsfw, zelink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-09-07 20:47:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20315773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infernalmajesty/pseuds/linksheartydurian
Summary: Hyrule is presented with an era of peace following the defeat of Calamity Ganon.Zelda now faces a new duty, to win back the hearts of her kingdom’s people, as well as the heart of her Hero. Uncertainty looms.Post-Calamity. Pre-BOTW sequel.





	1. Bittersweet Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Please... Spare me the heartache. I cannot bear to think about the past anymore.”

Her light, bright as the sun, blinded him suddenly. Exploding around her, Princess Zelda’s sealing power surrounded the Calamity, expanding widely across the plain. Link’s grip on the handles of his paraglider faltered, sending him plummeting, much too fast, to the earth below. He collided hard with the ground, suffering a severe concussion, though he found he was still conscious enough to keep his eyes open. He searched for something—anything—to focus on to try to stop the violent spinning in his skull.

With every attempt at breathing, he groaned and gasped frantically for the air that was forcibly removed from his lungs from his fall. He was lucky. It had been a relatively ‘short’ descent from where he let go of his paraglider, about eight meters up. He’d fallen out of countless trees and lost his grip while climbing cliffsides during his journey throughout Hyrule, but this mishap left his body beyond the point of pain. Absolute shock was a better way to describe it.

For a moment, Link was sure he was about to die from the way everything around him began to blur—strange colors blooming and dancing across his vision in swirling, kaleidoscopic patterns. Zelda’s divine light was a vivid reminder of their first attempt at this taxing battle with the Calamity 100 years ago. And just as she had held him in her arms on Blatchery Plain, the same out-of-body sensation was consuming him now. In the back of his mind, he yearned for the return of her embrace.

He was light, like he weighed naught but a feather, his ability to physically feel anything beginning to fade. He quickly accepted his fate and rolled onto his back, his severe head trauma leaving him unaware of the fact that the weapons he’d been carrying on his back were strewn in the grass nearby, a result of his bone-rattling impact. Casting his weary eyes upward to the sky, Link watched as it morphed from horrific crimson to serene blue.

He thought about Zelda. How would she feel upon her discovery that he’d died a second time after the use of her divine power? He could only imagine it would bring devastation. The dark, looming cloud that was her self-blame would not be far behind.

Evil was banished at long last, yet he would never have the chance to celebrate the victory with her. Instead of joyful tears, she would weep ones born from sorrow. She would be surrounded by deafening silence, save for the rustling of the wind through the tall grass and the distant chirping of birds. Selfishly, he thought about the fact that he would never see her smile again. How terribly unfortunate.

Knowing he would be leaving her this way, to be shrouded in loneliness after spending a century shackled to Ganon and his relentless evil, filled him with a guilt heavier than he ever imagined possible.

As Link continued to lay still, just waiting for the beautiful sky above him to fade into blackness, the heaving of his chest calmed. He breathed in slowly, deeply, until he could practically taste the air on his tongue, and he realized then; death was not yet coming for him.

Miraculously, he forced himself to his feet with a strength he could only assume was derived from the pure shock his body was experiencing and immediately searched for Zelda through the tall grass of Hyrule Field. He spotted her about fifty yards away, her back turned to him. Her long, golden hair was like a beacon, urging him to go—_run_ to her, even if his body couldn’t possibly handle that kind of exertion.

Link began to sprint toward her despite his circumstance while his head spun wildly with vertigo. His limbs burned with exhaustion and the desire to just _make_ _it_ _to_ _her_ _side_ before he lost everything. Disoriented, he tripped on his own feet, but swiftly caught himself after a few clumsy strides, regaining what was left of his balance. He came to a stop a short distance behind the Princess, his heart pounding erratically. If his existing injuries weren’t going to be his demise, perhaps cardiac arrest would be instead.

Zelda had heard him coming, much to her relief, but she chose not to turn around as his footsteps ceased. She’d waited one hundred grueling years for this moment, to see him again, face to face… Why was she suddenly so scared? Was she afraid it would not be the same Link she knew? Or was she afraid he hadn’t been able to recover his memories of her? Now was not the time to overthink.

Her entire body was still thrumming with the brilliance of her sealing power. It was like every cell inside of her was built from the stars, the same ones that shone brightly in the sky above her kingdom every night. However, she could feel them gradually dying out with each passing second, and briefly, she mourned their loss. She’d worked beyond her limits for that Goddess-given ability, but it was clear it was no longer needed, so she would have to be accepting of that whether she wanted to be or not.

After a trembling sigh, she finally spoke, and although she was still facing away from Link, she closed her eyes. In her mind’s eye, she imagined his face as she’d so distinctly remembered it. “I’ve been keeping watch over you all this time...”

The soft timbre of Zelda’s voice was enough to ground Link as he fought to stay on his feet, her words cutting through the muddiness enveloping his head and the loud pumping of his heartbeat in his ears. “I’ve witnessed your struggles to return to us as well as your trials in battle.” She paused, her eyes still closed as she recalled watching him defeat the four Blights and free each Divine Beast. “I always thought—no, I always believed—that you would find a way to defeat Ganon.”

At last she found the courage to turn around, but she kept her gaze cast downward, her hands clasping together over her heart, “I never lost faith in you over these many years…”

A strange feeling erupted from within Link’s chest, then. Whether it was from his wounds or the overwhelming sense of pride that Zelda’s words gave him, he couldn’t tell. All he could focus on were her eyes, desperately waiting for the moment she would give him the honor of looking into them again.

As if answering his prayers on cue, she looked up. “Thank you, Link…” Upon hearing his name fall from her lips, another pang rattled his chest, though this time, it didn’t subside. Instead, it turned into a throbbing sensation, then pain, coming from his left side along his rib cage. “…the Hero of Hyrule.”

Link caught a glimpse of Zelda’s soft smile before his vision began to dance with those odd colors he’d seen immediately following his concussion, his hands attempting to make fists as they started to go numb. _Focus_, he commanded himself, and he refused to let his eye contact with the Princess falter even though he could hardly see her.

“May I ask… Do you really remember me?” Her furrowed brows reflected her worried thoughts, but her tone was hopeful.

_YES_, Link’s mind screamed as he swallowed past the sudden dryness in his mouth. His lips parted to give her the verbal answer she craved, but nothing wanted to come out. Like his hands, his legs and feet were also now losing their feeling.

“I…” His eyes slipped shut, and as the world suddenly flipped on its side, he gave her a weak nod. The loud ringing that filled his ears drowned out the startled gasp Zelda let out as he collapsed to his right, his head once again smacking against the hard soil beneath him with an unsettling sound.

The Princess shouted as she reached out for her knight, falling to her knees beside his lifeless form, overtaken by déjà vu. This couldn’t be happening again. Not now. Not after she had just sealed Ganon away. “_Link!_—“ she cried roughly, barely able to see his face through her tears as she pulled him into her lap, cradling his head. She blinked a few times to clear her eyes and immediately scanned his body, her stomach turning the moment she discovered the dark red stain soaking his torn tunic. His blood’s metallic scent quickly overwhelmed her nose, and it took everything in her power not to turn away and retch.

Her lungs and throat burned with a heavy, uncontrollable sob. A deep gash brandished Link’s left side. It began above the bone of his hip and ended near what she calculated to be his sixth or seventh rib. There was so much blood, it had even soaked into the fabric of his trousers. How in Hylia’s name did she not notice this while he had stood before her? How had he managed to last long enough to even finish their fight against Ganon’s enraged form? Why hadn’t he mentioned he was hurt? Unable to bear the gory sight of the wound, she brought her eyes back up to Link’s face. With one hand she delicately brushed his sandy hair back and away from his forehead. There was a wild and gruesome bruise formed over his temple from the first time his head had come in contact with the ground. Her watery gaze moved down to his closed eyes, her finger barely brushing over his long lashes. How she wished to drown in the magnificent blue that rested behind them. His peaceful expression crippled her heart with an emotion she couldn’t seem to name. All she knew was that it hurt.

“No,” she sniffled, whispering to him. “You can’t leave me again…” As a few of her tears landed on his cheek in the aftermath of another sob, she quickly wiped them away.

  
Link was surrounded by a vast nothingness. It was as if his soul was nowhere and everywhere all at once. The feather-light feeling was back, but now, a thousand hands were holding him up, calming his entire being with the most gentle caress.

‘_My_ _dearest love… I am so proud of you._’

He couldn’t see her, but he could hear her—feel her; _Mipha_—all around him, entwined with his spirit.

‘_You mustn’t worry, for you have not failed._’

Goddesses, how desperately he wanted to see her, truly and completely, once more. He could come to terms with his destiny if it meant it would bring him to her in the end, never again to be separated by the barrier of a beating heart. He knew however, that she wouldn’t let that happen. At least, not until the time was right. She’d be breaking her promise to him if she did.

‘_I will always be with you_,’ she murmured, speaking directly to the core of his soul, her reassurance temporarily snuffing his yearning for that final death. The warmth of her grace spread to the very edges of his existence like a sunset on the sea, and as she spoke to him again, he could feel her slipping away beyond a distant horizon. ‘_You need not look far. Now… Return to her, Link… Return to the Princess… And, please… Tell her I’m proud of her as well._’

Blessed with new life, Link’s heart hammered in his chest with renewed vigor as his lungs took in a strong, lasting breath, the action surprising Zelda enough to stop her distraught cries in their tracks. “…Link,” she whimpered quietly with wide eyes, a relief like she’d never felt before washing over her the moment she saw his eyelids slowly begin to open. She gently combed her fingers through his hair again as his bruises and scrapes vanished before her eyes as if by magic, the touch of her fingers so light as she grazed them along the line of his jaw that it made his skin tingle in their wake.

Zelda’s shadow cast over him as his head lay comfortably in her lap, shielding his eyes from the sun, for which he was grateful. Before the features of her face—tear-stained, but still radiant and beautiful—even came into focus, Link smiled up at her. It was the same crooked, handsome smile the princess had remembered from a hundred years ago, seen only during the fleeting moments where they found themselves alone in each other’s company. It brought heavy tears back to her eyes, though now they spilled over in an outpouring of joyous emotion instead of insufferable grief.

Link felt like he’d just woken up from the best sleep of his life, even when comparing it to the day he woke up in the Shrine of Resurrection. He took a moment to raise his right hand to Zelda’s face and catch the tears that were slowly rolling over her cheekbones with the backs of his fingers, being cautious not to graze the leather of his glove too roughly against her skin.

“Princess…” he rasped groggily, his left hand coming up to carefully grasp her wrist as her delicate caresses moved to the side of his neck where she could feel his pulse beating steadily just under the surface. She silently wished he’d spoken her name instead of her royal title, to know that what they’d had before their century apart was not left forgotten in the deep recesses of his mind. She dared not push the subject however, out of fear she would only be heartbroken again.

“…We did it,” he breathed, quickly losing himself in the color of her eyes, his charming smile never leaving. Zelda couldn’t hold back the small, happy sob that bubbled up from deep within her chest. “We won,” he reiterated with an incredulous sigh, feeling a subtle pricking behind his eyes. Under any other circumstance, he would have valiantly fought back the tears. It was in his stoic, knightly nature to do so. But now… now that his duty had been fulfilled—he’d saved Hyrule and its princess; _his_ princess—he had no reason to suppress or hide any of his emotions.

“For Din’s sake,” Zelda muttered, trying her best to smile back at Link without her sobs and sniffles interrupting her, her fingertips coiling gently into the shorter strands of hair at the nape of his neck. “I thought I had lost you again… There was so much blood—“ Zelda looked to his left flank then, the dark stain still remaining on his clothing, but with no trace of his fatal wound aside from a faint scar peeking out from the ragged tear in his Champion’s tunic. Pale and barely raised, it was as if he’d had it for, well, a century.

“No worries,” he tells her, tightening his grip on her wrist momentarily. “Mipha has it all handled.” Link closed his eyes for only a second, picturing the Zora princess in as much detail as he could manage, her healing touch still resonating faintly within him.

“Mipha…” Of course. “Oh, I should have known.” Zelda’s heart swelled and she glanced up toward the blue sky, sending a silent thank you to the late Champion.

“She says she’s proud of you,” Link replied softly, his eyes tuned in to Zelda’s once again with reverence.

Her breath caught at his words, green eyes widening. A new wave of emotion surged within her, more tears pooling and overflowing without hindrance. “Such a dear friend… How I miss her so.”

“Me too…”

“The other Champions,” Zelda started, suddenly curious about Link’s connection with them and how deep it went. “Are you able to communicate with them as well?” Her mind quickly shifted to thoughts of Urbosa. She wondered what the Gerudo chieftain would say to her now, regarding their victory. Only good things, she hoped.

Link shook his head and watched Zelda’s faint optimism return to a bittersweet sadness. “Not after I freed them from the divine beasts, no.” He hated to disappoint her with that answer, but it was the truth. “Mipha is the only one, and even then, it’s on very rare occasion.” Zelda sighed, despondent, shutting her eyes in an attempt to lure her composure back to the surface.

“Revali, Daruk, and Urbosa especially, are proud of you too.” Link offered her some solace. He let go of Zelda’s wrist to brace himself against the ground, pushing himself up to a sitting position to be eye-level with her, much closer to her now than before. He spoke to her at a murmur, “…And don’t forget about your father.”

Zelda’s chest ached at the mention of the King. “…How can you be so sure of that?” She whispered, her voice laced with the onslaught of yet more tears. Looking down at her hands in her lap, she choked back a pained cry as she balled them into fists. She was on the brink of emotional exhaustion. “He always saw me as a failure… You remember, don’t you?” Link stared at her for a long moment after catching the way her reddened eyes darted up to his with her question, knowing the same memory was replaying in both of their minds. “He looked upon me in utter shame.” Without thinking about the weight of her words, she continued, her growing emotions showing themselves even more clearly on her face, “I was an embarrassment. To him, and so many others… ’An heir to a throne of nothing’, as he said. And he was right, in a sense; there’s hardly a remnant of the former kingdom left… All thanks to my inability to rise to my duty sooner. Perhaps if he’d had a son—”

“—_Zelda_,” Link interjected, unable to listen to her berate herself any longer. He reached for her hands, forcing her fists to relax so he could hold them. “You highly underestimate his love for you.” She made no effort to hide the roll of her eyes at his statement.

“_Posh_,” she practically hissed, her nose crinkling with frustration as her eyebrows knitted together. There was a smoldering fury swimming behind the deep emerald of her watery eyes, and though Link knew it wasn’t aimed at him, it still made him uneasy below the surface.

On the outside, he kept his expression calm, for the princess’s sake. Reliving old memories of the King’s harsh treatment of her angered him just the same, but he had to be her grounding force, as she’d been for him throughout his entire journey while she was still trapped in Hyrule Castle. “You must listen to me,” Link pleaded, squeezing Zelda’s hands with a gentle insistence. Upon the short pause he took, he could feel her fingers tighten their grip, if only for a moment. He could also see her thinking; words just behind her lips.

“Link… Please,” the anger in her features melted away as she returned a plea of her own and in its place came a weariness that Link only remembered seeing after they’d visited the Spring of Wisdom a lifetime ago. “Spare me the heartache. I cannot bear to think about the past anymore. For now, at least.”

Link nodded solemnly, “Understood, Princess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’ve reached these notes, thank you for reading. More chapters are currently in the works. I don’t have an upload schedule, but I will try my best to update as often as possible. Apologies for any spelling or grammatical errors I may have missed, I’m my own beta for now.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated. <3 :)


	2. Personal Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deep down, the princess welcomed the invasion of her personal space.
> 
> If she were to have it invaded even further, well…
> 
> That was something she could daydream about another time.

Link and Zelda found themselves under the scrutiny of a prolonged silence. The Princess was depleted of all her energy after sealing Ganon and shedding the many tears that were brought on by the whirlwind of emotions she very recently experienced. Link had not yet let her hands go.

“We need to start heading south,” he told her. His voice was low and soothing but laced with authority. “We won’t make it to Kakariko by nightfall if we do not depart soon.” With reluctance, Link pulled his hands from Zelda’s and rose to his feet with haste. Zelda’s eyes stayed focused on her hands in her lap, already missing the warmth that had surrounded them.

“Dueling Peaks stable is not far from the village, but I don’t believe it to be in our best interest to stop there after the events of today.” Holding his hand out, Link waited for Zelda to accept it, carefully helping her to her feet. Her entire body felt like chu chu jelly. “I know of another spot we can stop at along the way for some dinner, but then we must head straight to Impa.” His mind was racing with thoughts, some good and some bad. If citizens of Hyrule were in fact aware of the pairs’ clash with Ganon,—in reality, how could they not be?—how would they receive them upon their arrival? Would there be celebration and praise? Or would there be backlash for failing to save the parts of Hyrule that now lay in ruin from a hundred years ago? The last thing the Princess needed following her triumph was criticism. A bombardment of adulation was as equally unappealing.

“…Link,” Zelda caught the hero’s attention, making him realize he’d zoned out, his eyes blankly looking through her instead of at her.

“Hm?” His gaze softened as Zelda took a hesitant step closer to him, leaving half an arms length between them. There was a new sense of worry dancing in her eyes and for a moment it was contagious. “Is everything alright?”

“May I ask you something?” she replied, timid.

“Y-Yes, of course.” The look she was giving him confused him from the inside out. She seemed to be searching for something in his blue eyes.

“Does it make you happy… to see me again?” she questioned. Link gaped at her, taken aback by her inference that he didn’t feel as strongly as she about their reunion.

“Zelda,” he sighed, bringing his hands up to place them on her bare shoulders, her skin cool from the breeze under his touch. “What on earth has made you believe I’m not happy to be standing here with you?”

The Princess gave a light shrug, unable to meet Link’s concerned gaze. She was scared he’d forgotten. Her memory was untouched, while his was put back together in jagged pieces, still mending. Surely he hadn’t been able to remember the smaller things. “I… I don’t know.”

“Look at me,” Link murmured as he leaned in a bit more, gently squeezing her shoulders. He knew she doubted the extent to which his memory had recovered, but he couldn’t blame her for that. His thumbs tried to aid in his comfort, rubbing slowly back and forth. Though they stung with the threat of new tears, Zelda cast her eyes upward to his to let him know she was listening.

“I know things are not as they used to be, Princess, but I’m trying my best to remember everything that I can. It’s more difficult than it seems. However, I can assure you I _want_ to remember. For both of us.”

By the time he’d finished, Zelda was awash in a silent river of the tears she’d felt forming moments beforehand. When she spoke, her voice trembled, “…You need only call me Zelda. No ‘Princess’, or ‘Your Highness’. Just my name. Can you do that for me, please?”

“Yes,” he whispered without a second passing after her request left her lips. “I’m sorry... Forgive me if I happen to slip up.”

Zelda nodded, using all her might to make her anxious tears cease and allowing Link to delicately wipe away the ones that had already fallen.

Attempting to lighten the mood, Link forced a smile to his lips and took a step back from the princess, still keeping his voice at a low volume. “Would you like to meet my horse? I have a feeling you two will get along quite well.” Before she had the chance to part her lips and answer his rhetorical question, Link turned his head and let out an ear piercing whistle to call his horse over from wherever she’d wandered off to. He heard a distant neigh in response. Zelda pivoted toward the sound with Link and waited for the horse to make its way over to them.

“There she is,” Link said with admiration, the large white mare slowing down its gallop to stop next to him.

“_She?_” Zelda was astonished by the horse’s size. There was no way it could possibly be female. “You must be joking!”

He laughed quietly as his head was nudged by the horse’s nose, her lips trying to nibble on the tip of his pointed ear. His right hand raised up to pet the side of her long face. “Yes, ‘_she_’…” Link took hold of the reigns and guided his steed closer to Zelda, noticing the princess’ slight apprehension. “Her name is Pearl.”

Zelda shuffled just behind Link to keep him between her and Pearl, the tall horse eyeing her briefly. She noticed a familiarity in her gaze, remembering her own horse from 100 years ago. Pearl’s pure white coat and long mane made her look like his twin.

“Please, don’t tell me you are scared of her,” Link teased as he took Zelda’s wrist closest to him and ushered her closer to the horse. Upon bringing her hand up to pet her, the princess was startled by Pearl nickering right in her face, the horse’s hot breath unavoidable. Link’s grip on her wrist was unrelenting even as he laughed heartily at her reaction. “For an equestrian such as yourself, I was expecting more confidence when presented with the chance to make a new friend, Princess.”

She shot him a pointed glance, for deriding her reluctance and for addressing her formally.

“My apologies—” Link caught himself, still grinning from his laughter as he made his correction, “Zelda, I mean.”

Finally, he let go of Zelda’s arm and gave her the freedom to approach Pearl the way she wanted. She still erred on the side of caution, of course, but she forced herself to relax in the horse’s presence. Link was right. Why was she even the slightest bit frightened? She’d been raised alongside horses her entire life. She also knew Link was very good at handling and training them, so it was safe to assume Pearl was well-mannered.

“She reminds me of Storm…” she told him, carefully running her hand along Pearl’s neck and flowing mane. The horse nickered again, turning her head toward the princess and gently bumping her shoulder with her muzzle. For the first time in one hundred years, Zelda laughed. The sound of it was soft and delicate, but genuine, and Link stored it away in his memory posthaste.

“They’re related.”

Zelda scoffed doubtfully and shook her head at his statement, “Do not toy with me, Hero.”

“You know I would never lie to you. So unless Toffa over at Outskirt stable lied to _me_, Pearl is Storm’s granddaughter.” Link hoped Zelda would believe him because he honestly had very little way to prove that Pearl was a descendent of her royal horse from the past aside from the royal bridle he’d been gifted after catching her. Stepping next to Zelda, Link reached out to gently scratch Pearl’s shoulder. “She was hanging around Safula Hill. Toffa said she was extremely elusive, so most people who were aware of her existence only caught a glimpse of her when traveling through that area. I found her after recovering the memory at Sanidin Park.”

“You must have given her a lot of love to turn her into such a gentle giant.”

“It wasn’t without a lot of struggle. The first week I had her, I was convinced she was untamable, and I even considered returning her to where she came from. I still don’t know how old she is, but I know she was out in the wild for a long time. She’s used to being my sidekick now, though.”

Zelda turned her head to look at the smile on Link’s face that she could hear within his words. The contented expression made a smile of her own tug at the corners of her mouth. Feeling her gaze on him, Link turned and caught her eyes, causing Zelda to lose all train of thought in an instant.

There was something about him that was no longer the same. Several things, actually, and she couldn’t ignore them anymore. He was as endearing as he ever was, but he was also undeniably _handsome_; a word Zelda seldom used to describe him a hundred years ago.

Link no longer possessed adorably boyish features or a roundness in his cheeks. His face was thinner, his jaw more angular, and there was less tension in his brow. His complexion was a few shades darker than she remembered, tanned and sun-kissed from all of the time he’d spent out in the wilderness. If Zelda looked close enough, she could see the countless freckles peppered across his nose and cheekbones. Goddesses, he was beautiful.

His unruly hair was longer by only a few inches, but it was enough to catch her attention, which lead her to the next difference she noticed. Link was _taller_. His broad shoulders now met her at eye-level, and his blue tunic fit more snugly around the muscles of his chest and arms.

When had he grown so much?! Had the Shrine of Resurrection done this to him, or was this the result of his body playing catch-up after a century of being in a coma? Had he been awake for that long already? How much time had actually passed since his return?

“…Do I have something on my shirt?” Link asked playfully, pretending to wipe something off his chest with his hand even though he knew nothing was there. The irony of the obvious blood stain still visible on his tunic made him laugh internally.

“—Oh!” Zelda gasped, quickly turning a deep shade of red and tearing her eyes away from the man standing infront of her. “N-No, I’m sorry.” How had she let herself get so lost in him… And so obviously, too. “Please, excuse me, Link. I’m not sure what came over me there.”

“It’s quite alright,” he reassured her, a faint blush coloring his own cheeks following the sudden bashfulness that overcame him. He needed to change the subject before he felt too awkward to keep speaking aloud. “Would you like a lift?” Link asked the princess, gestering to Pearl’s saddle. They were running out of daylight, now that he thought about it. They needed to get a move on.

Zelda cleared her throat softly, also pushing back the sudden, awkward wave that threatened to crash over her. “Yes, that would be lovely,” she replied, nipping at her bottom lip upon realizing just how high up the saddle was. Pearl really was large for a mare.

Bending down, Link clasped his hands together to act as a step up to the stirrup next to him. “Up you go,” he encouraged, flashing Zelda a patient smile. The princess hesitated, her own hands clutching the fabric of her dress near her thighs.

“I’m sorry Link, but will this work? …With my dress and all?” The blush that warmed Zelda’s cheeks moments ago was renewed as she thought about how she would have to hike her dress up just to sit comfortably on the saddle. If they were both to fit on Pearl’s back, sitting side-saddle was not an option for her. “I’m not sure it would be very proper of me to ride with my legs so exposed.”

Link caught on quickly, feeling a bit guilty for failing to keep Zelda’s needs in mind. She was still a princess who took pride in decorum.

“I may have something you can wear underneath, if you’d like,” he offered, standing back up to open one of the saddlebags where he kept spare clothing during his travels. “Will these work?” He pulled out the trousers from his climbing gear, leaving the belts and accessories, and handed them over to her.

“That’s very generous of you, thank you,” she said politely, taking the clothing from him. Link gave her a respectable nod before turning back to the saddlebag, making sure not to look in Zelda’s direction as she dressed herself. As she pulled the pants up her legs, she found that the waistband quickly grew tight around her thighs. Momentarily, she panicked over the thought of them not fitting, but continued to tug them up anyway, suppressing a relieved sigh when they settled snugly around her hips. They would work for now.

While Zelda was preoccupied, Link retrieved his Hylian tunic from the same saddlebag. He changed in a dash, facing away from Zelda, but she still took notice of what he was doing. She could see every defined muscle in his back and shoulders with even the smallest movement, and she found that her eyes refused to look away from him. She had seen him shirtless only one other time, but that was a long time ago.

Strategically folding up his champion’s tunic to keep the blood stain from affecting the other clothing and armor he had packed, Link stored it away and closed the saddlebag, then returned his attention to the princess. “Ready?” He asked, bending down once again to form a step for her with his hands. He could hardly hold back the grin tugging at his lips as he drew his eyes up to her face. Her blush was becoming a permanent fixture within her beautiful features, but Link certainly didn’t mind, especially if he was the cause.

“Yes,” Zelda replied, very obviously trying to hide just how flustered she’d become. They both knew that wasn’t working too well. She was able to find her footing to get into the stirrup, but Link had to give her an extra boost to hoist her other leg over the saddle, his hand unavoidably coming in contact with her derrière as he pushed her up. He was thankful she had enough discretion to not point it out.

The princess settled comfortably atop Pearl as Link took the reigns to walk them in the direction of where he fell earlier, suddenly remembering his shield and weapons had fallen off his back. A sense of panic hit him as he scanned the field. He’d left the Master Sword laying somewhere in the grass, unattended.

“By chance, do you happen to see my shield or the Master Sword from up there?” He felt utterly embarrassed asking Zelda that question, and he was well prepared for a proper scolding in regards to the legendary sword. How could he so foolishly let such a sacred item be dropped in the middle of Hyrule Field? He was lucky there weren’t any wandering travelers or enemies around waiting to stumble upon it.

Zelda ignored the urge to reprimand her hero for doing such a thing and answered him calmly, “I think we’re going in the right direction. There seems to be something over there.” She pointed ahead of them in the direction Link had run to her from, something shiny peeking though the grass.

As they got closer, Link was beyond relieved the moment he could see the Master Sword glinting with a silvery, blue light. He couldn’t have cared any less about the other items he dropped.

Zelda chuckled to herself.

“What is so funny?” Link inquired, bringing Pearl to a halt to pick up his sword and return it to its rightful place upon his back, but not without a quick inspection of its condition first.

“She’s not very pleased with you, it seems.”

“Who?”

“The voice inside the sword.”

“Hah!” he laughed sarcastically, “I can’t imagine why.” As Link located his shield and his many arrows that had spilled out of his quiver, Zelda pondered something.

“Link… Were you ever able to hear her speak to you?”

Standing up straight, he gave her a look that only read of disappointment. “…No.”

“Hm…”

“Sometimes I wonder if I’m not supposed to hear it. The closest I’ve gotten to any kind of communication is when I’ve approached guardians or ventured into the castle… She would give off this little vibration, a low hum, almost like she was alerting me of the dangers I faced. Nothing more than that, though.”

“I see,” Zelda responded, her hands mindlessly brushing through Pearl’s long, white mane.

The somber subject left Link quiet and stewing in his own thoughts as he searched for his paraglider. He found it in pieces several yards away from where he’d crashed. The cloth was ripped and the wooden frame was snapped in more than one place. The princess could sense his frustration about it as he folded it up the best he could and stuffed it into one of his packs.

“We can find someone to repair it, I’m sure,” Zelda tried to reassure him, her tone gentle. The rigid tension in Link’s brow that the princess was far too familiar with had returned, and although he had faith in her statement about getting the paraglider fixed, it didn’t tame his anger.

Link hoisted himself up onto Pearl’s back without giving Zelda a reply and settled into the saddle behind her. He was mindful of their closeness, but physical contact was awfully hard to avoid when the saddle was made for only one rider. Deep down, the princess welcomed the invasion of her personal space. If she were to have it invaded even further, well… That was something she could daydream about another time.

Zelda felt a slight tug on the back of her hair and realized her golden locks were sandwiched between her and Link, her hands reaching up to gather her hair and lay it over her left shoulder.

“Apologies, Princess—_Zelda!_—” Link corrected before she could react, helping her move her hair out of the way so he was no longer sitting on it. “Zelda. Sorry. Your hair is very long, and I promise I will stop calling you Princess.” Residual frustration from the paraglider issue was leaking through his words.

She couldn’t help but giggle. Link was quite cute when he was disgruntled over something so trivial. “You mustn’t stress so much over the small things, Link. It will make you age,” she teased with a light-hearted tonality.

“Both of us are technically over a hundred years old at this point, so aging doesn’t scare me... Nice try, though,” he remarked with a ludic smirk over Zelda’s shoulder, reaching around her to locate Pearl’s reigns. “Here,” Link forced the reigns into the princess’ hands, the heels of his boots giving his horse a poke in the sides to get her moving toward the road they needed to follow. “You can steer while I continue to sulk over my precious paraglider.”

Zelda’s heart was swelling with warmth. Maybe it had something to do with the afternoon sun beaming down on her, or maybe it was because Link hadn’t actually changed on the inside like she feared he had. He was still the same boy who rivaled her wit and made her smile without trying. She wondered if this outgoing side of his personality that only she and their friends had witnessed privately had become his permanent comportment in the presence of strangers, or if he still presented himself as the even-tempered, reticent knight to those he wasn’t close to. Perhaps it wasn’t something to muse too fiercely over.

Link dug his heels into Pearl’s sides one more time, setting her into a leisurely trot. Used to having control of the reigns, he realized very quickly that he had nowhere to put his hands. Well, he had one place he could put them, but would Zelda mind the contact? There was only one way to find out. Casually, he let his hands rest over the curve of her waist, his hypervigilance making him anticipate any and every reaction she might have to his touch.

On the inside, Zelda wanted nothing more than to melt into Link, but she refrained, concentrating instead on steering Pearl and enjoying the landscape around her. She found the task was much more difficult than she anticipated because their bodies were just _so_ _close_. The feeling of Link pressed against her, his chest brushing against her back with every heavy step his horse took… It was impossible to ignore.

Link was fortunate that Zelda could not see his face, for the dark flush of his cheeks alone would be enough to kill him of embarrassment if she were to see it. He too found it impossible to deny how much he truly enjoyed every bit of their closeness. If he and Zelda had shared moments like this before the Great Calamity one hundred years ago, they were all lost to him now. However, he knew Zelda was important to him. He also knew she had loved him then, and unless he was stupid enough to doubt it, her feelings were something that hadn’t changed.

The pair made it only a short distance down the road before Zelda pulled back on the reigns and brought Pearl to a stop. She peeked over her shoulder at Link, and he could see her cheeks were colored as darkly as his. Though, the contradictive tone of her voice as she spoke quickly brought him out of his flustered state.

“Link… Would it be alright if we turned back?”

Link was confused by her request, and also a bit concerned. Had they forgotten something? “Why would do that?” he questioned.

“I would… like to get one last look at the castle up close, before we move on to what’s next, whatever that may be.” Zelda turned her head to face forward again, feeling guilty for derailing the plans Link had clearly made for them. “I promise, it won’t be much of a detour… My heart just needs a little closure.”

Link was silent for a few moments. After Ganon had appeared to lay waste to the kingdom, the princess barely had a chance to grieve over the loss of Castle Town, its citizens, and her father before being trapped in the castle for a century. She deserved an opportunity to mourn and remember them where they had fallen. Impa would have to wait a bit longer.

Link’s hands gave Zelda’s sides a gentle squeeze before reaching forward to tug on Pearl’s reigns, turning her around so they could proceed from whence they came.

“Of course we can go back,” he told her quietly, his chin practically resting on Zelda’s right shoulder. The caring tone of his voice and the warmth of his breath near her ear made Zelda fall to pieces on the inside, having to suppress the shiver that threatened to crawl up the back of her neck. The two of them had never been so… _friendly_, even before the Calamity when their relationship was at its strongest, but that was only due to the many eyes always keeping tabs on their activities. It was yet again a bittersweet feeling, to have him like this. Intimacy was always something she craved from him, especially after it took so long to get Link to open up to her emotionally. Yet, the way she felt now wasn’t exactly how she’d expected to feel. Perhaps that was because Link was unaware of the overwhelming affect he had on her, mentally and physically. Surely the current position they were in wasn’t as intimate a circumstance to him as it was to her.

“I think closure might be something we both need,” Link added once he brought Pearl’s pace back up to a gentle trot, his left arm moving to hook around Zelda’s waist. A wild blush consumed her again, her face and chest feeling hotter than the magma of Death Mountain. With her heart refusing to listen to the voice in her head telling her to remain outwardly unphased by his subtle affection, Zelda leaned back and allowed her weight to relax against Link’s sturdy form.

The strong arm wrapped around her middle was immediately joined by the other—much to her surprise—and to calm her frantic heartbeat, she chalked the gesture up to mere coincidence. It wasn’t until Link tightened his embrace and lowered his chin to her shoulder that she considered; maybe her courageous knight was more aware of his actions than she originally thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear these two will end up talking through their feelings and stop being so awkward. Idk when it’ll happen, but you can hold me to it.
> 
> thanks for reading 💚 :-) kudos and comments appreciated, and don’t forget to subscribe if you want to know when I upload chapters in the future.
> 
> follow me on Twitter if u want: @zeldasfruitcake


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